Ash receiver



Jan. l0, 1956 w. c. YORK ASH RECEIVER Filed Maron 15, 195s ASH RECEIVER William C. York, Falls Church, Va.

Application March 13, 1953, Serial No. 342,229

1 Claim. (Cl. 1311-235) This invention relates to an ash receiver and particularly to an ash receiver to be mounted in the wall of a building by providing a convenient place to dispose of ashes, cigarettes, and other debris resulting from smoking.

With the refinements of modern living, the problem of disposing of debris resulting from smoking, has become a constantly increasing problem. In the earlier days of large houses and primitive heating systems, the use of the ash bucket to receive the debris resulting from smoking, was quite handy. However, with the introduction of central heating and the decrease in the size of living quarters, available space for such material or the necessity therefor has been eliminated while for esthetic and sanitary reasons, the unsightly and unsanitary ash bucket and spittoon have been banished. Consequently, the now, almost universal habit of smoking requires the utilization of ash trays or other receptacles to receive the resultant debris with little or no space to place them. Particularly in the lavatory is this lack of recepacles to be noted. Usually the space in a lavatory is quite limited with the furniture therein being completely utilitarian, usually with Vsmooth curved surfaces so that there is substantially no safe place to deposit an ash tray without its eventually falling to the door and scattering the contents thereon.

The present invention provides an ash receiver which may be conveniently placed in the usual conventional hollow wall of building structures so that the ash receivers may be conveniently arranged for use in the various living spaces and particularly in the lavatory where the receiver may be conveniently placed therein for the user thereof.

The construction according to the present invention comprises a guideway which may be placed within the hollow wall structure and which is constructed of noncornbustible material such as steel or porcelain and has a mounting plate which will be secured either to new or old building construction to provide a irm mounting while the mounting plate may be covered by any suitable ornamental cover in such places as a lavatory Where the Walls are frequently covered by tile, the cover plate of the mounting will be a simulated tile which will t into and be continuous with the usual tile coating. The ash container itself is slidably mounted in the guide channel and is preferably provided with stop members to prevent its accidentalremoval therefrom and a friction device such as a spring may be utilized to control the motion therein while a cover or sealing plate on the ash container itself will close the container in air-tight relation so that cigarette stubs or other material of lighted character therein will be extinguished because of the lack of oxygen to prevent any possible overheating of the receiver.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved ash receiver.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an ash receiver, particularly adapted to be mounted in walls of buildings and the like.

A further object of the invention is to provide an ash receiver having lire extinguishing characteristics.

nited States Patent O 2,730,106 Patented Jan. 10, 1956 Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a portion of a lavatory showing the ash receiver installed in the wall;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional elevational view of the ash receiver taken substantially on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1 and showing one form of mounting therefor as well as means of removing the ash container from the guide channel;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section showing the safety stop;

Figure 4 is an enlarged front elevational view of the guide channel in place;

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the ash container for the receptacle; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of a further form of mounting for the receiver.

In the exemplary embodiment according to the invention, a building structure indicated generally at 10, is provided with a wall 12 which is of the usual hollow construction and encloses a portion such as a water closet having a commode 14 therein which is fixed with respect to the wall 12 so that an ash receiver indicated generally at i6 may be conveniently installed in the wall 12 for the use of a person sitting on the commode.

The wall l2 may be of any desired construction herein indicated as a plaster structure 20 which may be plaster, the usual wallboard or other wall construction according to modern ideas of construction. In new structures mounting boards 22 and 24 will be built into the framing of the wall structure to provide an aperture 26 for receiving the ash receiver.

The ash receiver itself consists of a housing or guide channel indicated generally at 28 and having a continuous top, bottom, sidewalls and a back or interior end wall constructed as a unitary piece, at least with no apertures of sufficient size to admit sparks or ingress of air into the channel. A mounting plate 30 is attached to the open end of the channel 23 and preferably is rigidly attached by welding or the like. |The mounting plate 30 extends laterally from the sides of the channel 28 and provides a flange so that the channel 28 may be rigidly mounted with respect to the wall l2. Preferably the mounting plate 30 is provided with a plurality of apertures 32 which are preferably countersunk to receive fasteners such as the screws 34 for attaching the plate 30 to the framing supports 22 and 24. The depending lip 36 is arranged adjacent the top of the open end of the guide channel 28 and is preferably constructed as a portion of the mounting plate 30 extending downwardly from the top portion of the channell 28. The ash receptacle or container 40 is adapted to be slidably received within the channel 28 and preferably substantially of the identical cross-section of the interior of the channel 2g so that it may be slidably received therein. The ash receiver will be constructed preferably of metal or other substantially non-inflammable material and will be provided with an aperture 42 so that debris and other material resulting from smoking may be deposited therein. The body 44 of the container 40 will preferably be a stamping or other onepiece body having a cover plate 46 attached thereto and forming the front of the container and having a suitable handle 48 attached thereto for manipulating the container within the guide channel 2S.

A resilient friction bar or member 50 is secured on the body 44 by any suitable means such as welding or the like. The resilient member 50 preferably provides frictional contact with the top of the channel 28 so that the container 40 will be controlled in its motion inwardly and outwardly as may be desired. The rear end of the member 50 is upturned as at 52 to provide a convenient stop for cooperation with the depending lip 36 so that .container 410 will n ot be inadventently drawn from the ,Channel 2,81- Preferably the Spacing f the @Standing lug 52 from the rear -end 0f the Qontainsr 40 is S0 1@- signed that when the containerV is to be emptied, it may be rotated upwardly around 'the strop 52 inengagement with the lip 36, as shown in phantom lines in Figure 2, s o that the interior container may be removed for dumping the contents thereof.

1`he spring member S0 may be provided with a snuiiing hole 54 so that cigarettes may be extinguished therein. Part of the device 50 vwill* be provided with wave-like undulations 56 providing a so-called pincer holding for a cigarette so that if the cigarette is forgotten, it-will burn down to the constricted portion between the undulations 56 and be extinguished.

For esthetic reasons it is usually desirable to cover the mounting plate 30 by means of a suitable ornamental cover such as simulated tile 58. While obviously, the cover plate 58 may be secured to the mounting plate 30, in any desired manner, it is usually most convenient to Vsecure it thereto by means of the modern adhesive known as mastic, commonlyusedin placing tile and particularly simulated'tile in position on wall surfaces. The mastic 60 being interposed between the plate 58 and the mounting plate 30 and preferably the plate 30 is provided with a plurality of adhesive securing surfaces such as indentations 62, When mounting the channel 28 in an old wall, it is usually not convenient to provide the mounting members 22 and 24 and the wall structure 64 will be cut to provide an aperture 66 of sufcient size to receive the channel 2.8 and fasteners such as the toggle bolts 68, will be utilized to secure the mounting plate 30 to the wall structure 64 as shown in Fig. 6.

In normal construction, the front end wall 46 of the container 40 Will extend forwardly from the container 40 and will close in substantially air-tight relation with either the mounting plate 30 or the cover plate 58 as may be desired.

I n the utilization of the ash receiver according to the invention, apertures are provided in the wall of the building structure convenient to various places where the occupants will normally be seated and in old structures, apertures will simply be made through the usual plaster or other finished construction and the cover plate attached by means of toggle bolts or other convenient fasteners while in a new construction, the opening will be framed prior to the installation of the wall covering. In either event, the channel 28 is extended in spaced relation in the usual hollow interior of the wall and is closed in air-tight spark-proof relation so that no ashes, sparks, or other material may beblown therefrom into the interior wall structure. AIn use the container is simply pulled outwardly until the aperture 4 2 is available so that ashes, matches, or such material may be deposited therein. If Ait is desired to lodge a cigarette for a short period of time, it may be placed in one of the undulations 56 and if forgotten, will burn out as soon as it reaches the constricted portion. Likewise, if it is desired to extinguish the cigarette, it may be done by crushing the same into the extinguishing aperture 54, as

is well known. If for any reason the cigarette or other smoking material is deposited in the container 40 and in lighted condition, the container 40 may be moved into the guide 28 until the flange 46 closes in air-tight relation with either the cover 5S or the mounting flange 30 to produce a substantially air-tight relation therewith so that the oxygen in the container 40 will be rapidly consumed causing the extinguishing of the cigarette before serious heating of the container or the channel can result. To empty the container 40, it is only necessary to withdraw the same until the stop 52 contacts the lip 36, after which the container may be pivoted upwardly to release the lower end of the container from the channel 28 so that the container may be dumped, washed, or otherwise cared for.

In tile surfaces, such as are usually encountered in lavatories, cover plate 58 will usually be either tile of the type utilized in the wall or a simulated tile of metal or plastic which will match the design of the usual tile structure. However, in walls of plain or other construction, the cover plate 58 may be of metal or tile or the like.

lt will be apparent that the present invention provides an ash receiver which may be conveniently placed and that little or no useful space will be occupied thereby so that the occupants will not be deprived of room because of the presence of the ash recepacle and the recepacle itself will be convenient for use and have all the desired characteristics of maintaining and extinguishing the smoking material with a minimum of inconvenience.

It willV be apparent to those skilled in the art, that changes and modifications may be made in the arrangement of construction and parts thereof without departing from the true spirit and purpose of the invention.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

An ash receiver of the character described comprising: an elongated horizontal housing open at one end, means on the open end of the housing for mounting the same on a supporting wall, a depending lip in the top of the open end portion of the housing, an elongated receptacle slidable into and out of the housing and including a top having an opening therein, a resilient longitudinal bar having one end portion secured to the top of the receptacle and including an undulated f ree end portion extending therefrom into the opening therein and constituting a cigarette holder, said bar having a cigarette extinguisher on its free end, and a stop on said one end portion of the bar engageable with the lip for positively limiting outward sliding movement of the receptacle, the undulated portion of the bar being engageable with the lip for frictionally securing the receptacle in adjusted position in the housing and for vibrating the bar for clearing the extinguisher when said receptacle is slid into or out of the housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 680,127 Cornell Aug. 6, 1901 742,012 Decker Oct.'20, 1903 1,328,968 Russell Jan. 27, 1920 2,097,480 Visser Nov. 2, 1937 2,288,637 Mauro July 7, 1942 2,300,026 Visser Oct. 27, 1942 2,462,397 Hendricks Feb. 22, 1949 

